17 Common Lies You Tell Your Doctor (and Why You Need to Just Stop)

Sometimes, a fib is harmless. In these cases, it’s not.

I take all my medications, exactly as prescribed

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“Patients often say that they take all of their medications in a timely fashion. But non-compliance with medications may result in additional medications being prescribed, since physicians may think that they are needed. This increases the risk of side effects, interactions with other drugs, and cost.”—Regina Druz, MD, cardiologist

Junk food? I never eat the stuff

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“Often times people with diabetes, high cholesterol, or obesity will say that they don’t eat anything ‘bad,’ and they can’t understand why their labs are still abnormal or why they aren’t losing weight. When asked if they are eating saturated fats or processed sugars they will say no. Their labs, however, tell another story. It is very important to know what someone is actually eating. If someone is very carefully following their diet but their labs are still abnormal they may require more medication. If your doctor knows that you aren’t really eating that well they can make changes to the diet first before adding more medication.”—Kristine Arthur, MD, internist at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California. (Find out what other things patients do that annoy doctors the most.)